There was a number in the news last week which was easily mistakable for a first sign of rigor mortis: 148,038. It appeared in the British Admiralty's weekly confessional, representing the number of tons of merchant shipping lost by Britain in seven days (see p. 77). For only three weeks in the entire war had there been losses worse than 148,038 tons. This was more than twice the average weekly loss (63,342 tons), still more than twice the loss of the previous week (58,523 tons).
But to the resilient British, to those wonderfully tough-minded folk who saw a kind of...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
